1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a handling device and more particularly, to an improved hand operated tool particularly adapted to facilitate the removal and/or the installation of stone, brick, tile or the like.
Ornamental block elements, either cast or quarried, are a popular item employed in the construction of walkways, patios, garden borders and other areas serving either as functional pathways or decorative features around homes, gardens, or office buildings. Such block elements may comprise bricks, paving stones, tiles, or other block members and are available in a myriad of configurations such as square, rectangular, circular or polygonal. When such elements are installed for but ornamental purposes or foot traffic, they are frequently deposited upon a firm bed with sand filling the joints between adjacent elements. Alternately, a settable binding composition such as mortar may be used in the joints.
Regardless of the material of the block or tile elements or the type of joint composition, one or more of the elements in any installation frequently becomes chipped, cracked or otherwise broken or disfigured and requires replacement. The tool of the present invention has been devised to facilitate the ready removal of such damaged elements as well as providing a convenient manner for installing a replacement block or tile element. With a one-handed manipulation of the present tool, individual elements are quickly and simply lifted from their former placement without disturbance of the adjacent elements, with the same tool being utilized to lower into position a suitable replacement element. To achieve the foregoing accomplishment without disrupting any of the adjacent block elements or inflicting further damage to the block being handled, calls for a tool permitting positive, independent control over both the lifting as well as the clamping forces of the tool. Thus it can be seen that the potential fields of use for this invention are myriad and the particular preferred embodiments described herein are in no way meant to limit the use of the invention to the particular field chosen for exposition of the details of the invention.
A comprehensive listing of all the possible fields to which this invention may be applied is limited only by the imagination and is therefore not provided herein. Some of the more obvious applications are mentioned herein in the interest of providing a full and complete disclosure of the unique properties of the previously unknown general purpose article of manufacture. It is to be understood from the outset that the scope of this invention is not limited to these fields or to the specific examples of potential uses presented hereinafter.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hand manipulated tool devices for lifting and lowering block elements are broadly known in the art as exemplified in the following described patents but which fail to suggest the simplicity and effectiveness of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,533,934 issued to Lutz on Apr. 14, 1925 is directed to a lifting implement particularly constructed to enable the handling of oversize bricks and includes three or four jaw members since a requirement of this tool is to enable a tilting of the lifted brick. This is possible in view of the use of more than one jaw engaging at least one end of the brick and wherein the jaws are closed upon raising of the transversely extending handle. The present tool utilizes single plate-like jaws providing a wide expanse of clamping area at each end of the engaged element rather than the point contact offered by the Lutz tool jaws and also presents a dual handle mechanism permitting independent control of both the clamping force and lifting force, features not apparent in this prior art tool.
Another brick carrier device will be found in U.S. Pat No. 1,586,475 issued May 25, 1926 to Schondelmayer et al. and which illustrates a mechanism allowing of altering the spacing between a pair of jaws in order to accommodate the varying dimensions of alternate brick loads. Again, a single uppermost pivoted handle is shown and this very construction precludes the precise independent control over the clamping and lifting forces as offered by the tool of the present invention.
A fixed, top handle brick manipulating tool is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,129,029 issued to Ruzza on Apr. 14, 1964 and which includes a fixed jaw attached to a top handle while a pivotal lower handle is unitary with a movable jaw. Unlike the instant invention, the fixed jaw of this prior patent is joined to the top handle section by a longitudinal screed section that fully abuts the top surface of the brick so as to serve as a screed during buttering of the brick with mortar. This disallows the variable positioning of the tool and its jaws as permissible with the instant tool in order to accommodate either tiles, stones or bricks of variable thicknesses with the present straight jaw members which extend upwardly to the respective ends of the two handle sections.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,837 issued Jun. 28, 1974 to Fredrickson shows a battery carrier and employs an uppermost handle to which is pivotally attached a lower handle, with each handle terminating in a pivotal clutch or jaw. This tool appears to rely upon the rim projecting outwardly adjacent the top of a battery as the two clutches are closed together beneath this rim. Prior to applying this carrier to a battery, using only the top handle, gravity would collapse the two jaw assemblies together. This is unlike the instant tool wherein lifting only the top handle insures opening of the jaws due to the mass of the lower, pivotal handle so that the tool is immediately ready for use, starting by lowering the fixed rear jaw after which the lower handle is manipulated to achieve the correct spacing for insertion of the pivotal, front jaw.
Another battery lifting tool is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,364 issued Oct. 25, 1977 to Breite and wherein a single handle affixed to a pivotal jaw is adjustably positionable along a horizontal member attached to a second jaw. This is in contrast to the present tool which does not rely upon any member resting atop the lifted article since such an arrangement would preclude the use of a pivotal handle below the top handle and also would interfere with stones or tiles having irregular upper surfaces.
None of the above inventions or patents, considered either singly or in any combination, is seen to even remotely describe or suggest the unique structure of the tool as claimed herein.